The Legacy of Love | Part 1

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today. Would you like that? Well, there's a key to all of that, and that's what we're going to talk about today, and that key is love. Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring timeless truth found in the messages of pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers. As we just heard, the key to assurance and fellowship with God is love.

Children of God ought to be filled with love. It's our greatest virtue and commandment. It's also our greatest testimony. Will we be known by our love above all other things?

And it is our greatest motivation. If we love Jesus, we will keep his commandments, showing his love to others. If you have your Bible, turn now to 1 John chapter 3. We'll begin in verse 11, as Adrian Rogers explains more about the legacy of love. Turn to 1 John chapter 3.

Look up here and let me ask you a question. How would you like to have sweet assurance to say, I know that I know that I know that I'm heaven-born and heaven-bound? Furthermore, how would you like to have great, great boldness in your faith to be able to pray, to come to God and pray with such confidence that you absolutely know that your prayer will be answered?

And let me ask you another question. How would you like to have sweet communion with the Lord? I mean for the Lord not to be somebody that you read about or hear about, but for the Lord Jesus Christ to be in your life a bright, burning, loving, gracious reality. To have assurance, to have confidence, to have communion with the Lord day by day.

Would you like that? Well, there's a key to all of that and that's what we're going to talk about today and that key is love. Now listen, love today is, well it's sort of a word that we pass by.

It's kind of shopworn. But I want you to learn from the Word of God today, the legacy of love. And when you see it, you're going to realize what I said a few moments ago, that even if we were utterly selfish, utterly selfish, we would want to love.

Of course we can't be selfish and love, so that's really a contradiction. But look in God's Word and you'll understand what I'm talking about beginning here. First John chapter 3 verse 11, for this is the message that you've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother, wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous.

Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death, and whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.

And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him, my little children?

Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and with all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God, and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us. There are four levels of life.

Let's start at the lowest level of life, and that is murder. Look, if you will, in verse 11 again. And this is the message that we've heard of him from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and slew his brother.

Adam had two sons. Cain slew Abel. By the way, the first murder was over religion. That's what the Bible says here, it was over religion. Cain hated Abel's religion, and Abel was a martyr for the faith. False religion is almost always murderous. It comes from the devil. Jesus said in John chapter 8 and verse 44 that Satan is a murderer. Jesus said he's a thief that comes to kill and to steal and to destroy.

Who is manipulating the street gangs? Who is enticing sometimes well-fed and well-paid doctors to snuff out life in the womb? Satan. That's the lowest level of life. That's of the devil. That's murder.

All right, now let's move on to the next level, not much higher. Look, if you will, now in verses 13 and 14. Marvel not my brethren if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother bideth in death, and whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. Now, the next level, not murder but hatred.

You say, well, I've never killed anybody. But John says if you have hate in your heart, God wrote it down in his ledger as murder. Jesus said if you're angry with your brother, you have hatred in your heart. If your heart is headquartered for hate, you're on a mighty low level of life. Now, you might not have pulled the trigger, but in God's sight, God might see you as a murderer.

He that hateth his brother is a murderer. I remember hearing about a woman who went to the doctor. She'd been bitten by a rabid animal, and the doctor came back and said, yes, you do.

You have rabies. And she got out a pen and a piece of paper and began to write. He said, what are you doing, making out your will?

She said, no, I'm making a list of people I'm going to bite. They're people just like that, filled with hatred. God writes it down as murder. That's another level of life.

But then there's another level, a little higher but not a whole lot better. And that's not murder or hatred, but it is indifference. Look in verse 17. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Now, there are many who say, well, I'm not a murderer, and I don't hate people. I just go my way.

I do my thing, and I let them do their thing, and you're indifferent. And that too, my friend, is not of God. Jesus gave a whole parable, the parable of the good Samaritan, about those who passed the man by who had been beaten and bruised and bloodied and left for dead.

The world is full of the beater uppers and the passer uppers, and thank God there are some picker uppers, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, those are three levels of life, and I want to deal with the fourth level. That's the level of the child of God, those who are saved, and that is the level of love. Not murder, not hatred, not indifference, but love. Now, before we get into our text, I just want to take just a little moment and tell you of the great, great, immeasurable value of love. I looked up some scriptures.

I want to share them with you. Get a pen and a piece of paper and just jot these scriptures down. Let me tell you why love is so very, very important. Number one, it is absolutely the greatest virtue. Just write down 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 1 and 2, and our Lord here is comparing all of the other virtues with love. For example, he says in verse 2, if I have faith so that I can remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing. What Paul is saying is, what good is it if you can get rid of mountains and you can't get rid of malice? Love is greater than faith, greater than mountain moving faith. He says, if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and have not love, I'm just like that gong on the gong show.

I'm like sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. It is the greatest virtue. Love is the greatest virtue. Love is the greatest commandment. One time they asked the Lord Jesus, Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? Put this scripture down. Matthew chapter 22, verses 37 through 40, Jesus says unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

Now watch this, and the second is likened to it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. What he says, you can take the ten commandments, you can take the Pentateuch, you can take Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, you can take it all and just write down this, love God with all of your heart, love your neighbor as yourself. That's it. That's the sine qua non, that's it.

That is the whole thing summed up. Love is the greatest virtue. Love is the greatest commandment. And by the way, if love is the greatest commandment, what is the greatest sin? Not to love. Because you've broken the greatest commandment, not to love God, not to love your brother. Listen, love is the greatest testimony.

Jesus Christ said in John chapter 13, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. You don't have to have a lapel pin. You don't have to have a bumper sticker. A man out in California, true story, he was one of these guys always on time, one of these guys does everything just right, businessman, woke up in the morning. He always liked to get on the freeway in California early so he would not be late. Waked up, went out to try to start his car, the battery was dead. He asked his wife, can I take your car?

She said yes. By this time he'd missed the wind of opportunity and that freeway had become the world's longest parking lot and he's inching along and then it comes to a dead stop and the man behind him toots the horn. Now the guy's already late. He's already irritated and the man behind him blows the horn. He just sits there and steams a little. And after a while the man behind him blows the horn again, true story. This executive who was a member of a fine church in California got so irritated he just gritted his teeth. He said, I don't know why that guy is blowing his horn at me.

Doesn't he see I cannot move? Then the man tapped the horn the third time. This man, so angry, this executive, normally well controlled, threw open the car door, went back to that man, tapped on the window. The man lowered the window. He put his finger in that man's face and said, listen you, I don't want you to blow your horn at me one more time.

I cannot move my car. And he said some other things that weren't very nice to him. And the man behind him said, sir, what is wrong with you? What do you mean what's wrong with me? He said, what's wrong with you? He said, no, what's wrong with you, sir? He said, doesn't that bumper sticker mean what it says, honk if you love Jesus? Oh, he said, I do love Jesus.

I am so sorry. We need to take the saint off the dashboard and put him behind the steering wheel. Isn't that right? You see, love, love is the greatest virtue. Love is the greatest commandment. Love is the greatest testimony. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one for another. It is the greatest motivation. You know what the apostle Paul said? The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians, the love of Christ constraineth us. That's what keeps me going. It's the love of Jesus.

It really is. Do you know to be a soul winner is not even loving souls. Jesus said to Peter, loveth thou me, feed my sheep. Not do you love sheep or do you love to feed them? But love, love is the greatest motivation.

It's the greatest thing in the world. And friend, now we're going to come back to our text. All that was for free. That's not even in the text. All right.

That's just to get you ready. I want to say that love is also the greatest investment you'll ever make. The greatest investment you will ever make. And what John is giving us here are three things that we gain, three things that we receive, three benefits and blisses from love. When we learn to love, what is the legacy of love?

Here they are. The first one is a good conscience. The second one is a great confidence. And the third is a gracious communion. That's the legacy of love. Now, first of all, let's look, if we can, and see how we have a good conscience when we love.

Now, notice in verse 19, and hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and with all things. What causes your heart to condemn you?

Lack of love. When you have malice in your heart, when you have hatred in your heart, you have a condemning heart. God has wired you that way. If you're saved, if you're born again, you cannot fail to love and have good conscience. Now, we're talking about the word conscience. Well, you say, I don't see the word conscience there. Well, in the Bible, the word conscience and the word heart are often used interchangeably. When He says, if our heart condemn us not, He's saying, if our conscience does not condemn us. Now, when you have love in your heart, you're going to find a wonderful thing that your conscience is going to be clear. Now, your conscience is not an enemy. Your conscience is a friend, is something unique put in you that God did not put into animals. Have you ever thought about it?

Animals can't blush and animals can't laugh. Man has a conscience. Now that conscience, the little boy said, when he was asked what conscience is, he says, that's the part of us that feels bad when everything else feels good. But that's not really true.

It's more than that. That may be the world's frivolous definition of a conscience. But that conscience is that part of you that God has put in you.

It is an ability to contemplate our actions and to make moral judgments. And the Bible teaches that all of us should have a good conscience. Put these scriptures down, 1 Timothy 1.19, holding faith and a good conscience.

Put this one down. Acts chapter 24 and verse 16, Paul said, now this is the Apostle Paul, he talks about his ambition. He said, And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. Bill Gothard said that conscience, a good conscience is this, that inner freedom of spirit and assurance from knowing that you have a transparency toward everyone, that no one is able to point a finger at you and accuse you of wrongs toward him that you've never made right.

Now you can just take that definition by Bill Gothard and write the word love. There is absolutely no way that you can have a good conscience without love. When you love, you'll make it right.

And when you make it right, you have that transparency. When you love, I mean truly love, when you've made it right, you're going to have that sweet assurance. So here's the first legacy of love, and these are going to build one upon another. The first legacy of love is a good conscience. Here's the second legacy of love, not only a good conscience, but a great confidence.

Now notice how one folds into another. Look in verse 19, And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

Confidence, boldness. First of all, my heart doesn't condemn me. And all of this is in the context of love. My heart doesn't condemn me. And when my heart doesn't condemn me, then I have confidence toward God. Boldness in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you say, what good is this confidence? This confidence, dear friend, that you have with God, this confident heart that comes out of a clean conscience, is what helps you to pray and get your prayers answered. Look again at this passage of scripture.

Now watch this. If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And it's all linked together. Verse 22, And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight. Now what commandments is he talking about? Well, just go down to verse 23, the last part, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment.

That's what he's talking about. How do you get your prayers answered? Have a good conscience. Well, what does that do?

It gives you great confidence. And you can come to God and ask in his name and get your prayer answered. Answered prayer is not for rebels. Answered prayer is not for those whose hearts are filled with hate.

It is not, it is not, it is not. The Bible says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. That's a prayer promise that we don't like to quote. But that's one of the promises. That's a prayer promise.

Let me illustrate this. Have you ever read over there in 1 Peter chapter 3? Peter is telling husbands and wives how to dwell together as heirs of the grace of life. I like that phrase, the grace of life. That's kind of like the cherry on top, the grace of life, a happy marriage. Husbands and wives dwell together as heirs of the grace of life. And he says that your prayers to God be not hindered. Now let me give you a real example of this.

You and your wife are having one of those little discussions that can be heard about three blocks away. And you get into it. Hey, look, sometimes Christians can do this.

True? I mean, they get their eyes off the Lord and they get into one of these things. And they're at one another's throat. And whatever else they're doing, they are not dwelling together as heirs of the grace of life. And then mother goes in to check the baby and she comes out and she's got a frightened look on her face.

And it's obvious that the baby is very sick. And you're both believers. And you know that you need to pray. You feel so silly right now. You say, we better pray. All right. You can't pray.

You feel like fools praying in that atmosphere, that hostility, that venom. Do you know what you do? You say, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I was wrong. I was a fool. Darling, forgive me. She says, well, it was my fault too.

You hug and kiss, make up. The conscience is clear. The assurance is back. And you can pray.

Isn't that right? But you cannot pray with a condemning heart. I mean, if you don't have a good conscience, you cannot have a great confidence. And if you don't have a great confidence, you can't get your prayers answered. It's just that plain. That's what John is talking about.

It's very practical. Love, love gives a good conscience. And when love gives a good conscience, love gives a great confidence. And what a powerful truth to end today's program.

Love gives great confidence. We'll hear part two of this lesson coming up tomorrow. You know, at Love Worth Finding, we love hearing how the ministry and messages of Pastor Rogers have inspired you in your faith journey. If you can go to our website and submit your own testimony or read others who have shared their stories with us. We often select stories to be shared throughout our Love Worth Finding community and we always will protect your privacy.

We can't wait to hear from you. Go to lwf.org slash my LWF story today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of this lesson in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD and mention the title, The Legacy of Love. This message is also part of the insightful series, Sweetest Fellowship This Side of Heaven. For that complete collection, all 11 powerful messages, call 877-LOVE-GOD or go online to lwf.org slash radio, or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for studying in God's word with us today. Remember, if you'd like to start receiving daily devotions and links to the program, sign up for our daily heartbeat emails at lwf.org slash radio.

And tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of the Legacy of Love right here on Love Worth Finding. Recently, we heard from a listener in Texas who said this, in 2012, while surfing through radio stations, I heard Pastor Rogers speaking. Through his message, I felt God reached down into the muck and mire, pulled me out, set me on solid ground and by his grace, Adrian Rogers taught me things I'd never heard before. We are so grateful to hear such wonderful news about the powerful truth of the gospel found in the messages of Adrian Rogers. Thank you for your stories, your prayers.

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